JoshK Posted August 24, 2004 Posted August 24, 2004 Just facts here. Debate as you like... I just sincerely hope that those of you who vote repub do so for reasons other than economic. Current Unemployment is 5.5% July new jobs report was 32,000 Forecast was about 250,000 U.S. Labor Market Overview U.S. population is roughly 294,000,000 U.S. Labor force is roughly half of the population, or about 140,000,000 U.S. population and labor force grows about 1% annually 1.4 million new people enter the labor force annually, roughly 120,000 a month George Bush II Track Record Between Jan, 01 and July, 04 the economy has lost 1.2 million jobs 1st president since Hoover (1929-1933) to lose job during 4-year term If labor force participation was same as March, '01 unemployment rate would be 7.3% Bill Clinton Overview Average job growth monthly was 225,000 Added ~11,000,000 jobs 6.8% -> 4.0% unemployment rate drop Contrast between Dems and Repubs in 4-year terms since LBJ Dems 10.1% job growth during terms Repubs 4% job growth during terms Reagan was 6.8% Clinton was 9.1% Nature of today's new jobs Tend to be lower paying than jobs lost Since Jan, 2004 Bottom fifth employers in wage & salary have added 477,000 Walmart, etc. Top fifth of wages and salaries has added no net jobs 57% of people who lose jobs find a lower paying job Market for college grads is increasing but lowering for high school grads. Mostly meaning that college degrees are now useful to get even low paying jobs Average hourly wage over last 4 years is up 8% which doesn't even beat inflation Essential living expenses over past 4 years Health care premiums up 49% College tuition up 40% National property tax up 30% Gas prices up 23% Partially offset by lower taxes and lower interest rates, but not nearly enough Quote
Stemalot Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 Soon the Canadian dollar will worth just as much as the US dollar! yeah! Quote
JayB Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 Yeah - nothing creates jobs, wealth, and innovation like protectionism. Just look at South America... Quote
slothrop Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 South America? I thought the World Bank "strongly suggested" those countries liberalize their economies. How 'bout them steel tariffs? And soft-wood tariffs? And closing foreign countries out of bidding on defense-related contracts? Is that not protectionism? I'm sure there are reasons for all of those things, but they nonetheless amount to US gov't interference in the well-oiled machine of the world free market. Quote
JayB Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 All of those tarriffs suck - but if you judge the candidates by their rhetoric and their party's historical tendencies then it's reasonable to believe that the tarriff situation would only get worse under a Kerry administration. AFA Latin America is concerned, their collective fate over the course of the last century exemplifies the typical trajectory of economies that have followed the tarriff-barrier model.... Quote
cj001f Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 All of those tarriffs suck - but if you judge the candidates by their rhetoric and their party's historical tendencies then it's reasonable to believe that the tarriff situation would only get worse under a Kerry administration. There's at least one wing of the Repub. party that favors tariffs - look at the rhetoric of Buchanan. It all depends how Clintonian Kerry would end up being. South America calls up an Argentina joke, There are 4 kinds of countries in the world: 1)The Developed Countries 2)The Undeveloped Countries 3)Japan, which has nothing, but became rich 4)Argentina, which has everything, but has squandered it all. (All it took was Peronism to turn the 10th economy to the bottom rank) Quote
Jim Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 All of those tarriffs suck - but if you judge the candidates by their rhetoric and their party's historical tendencies then it's reasonable to believe that the tarriff situation would only get worse under a Kerry administration. If you go by the historcal tendencies cited above it doesn't look so good for us - the worker bees. I know - you may be afraid that Kerry would recklessly spend 10s of Billions of dollars on unnecessary foreign wars that drained the surplus the last Democratic administration built up, while giving a huge tax break to the richest americans. Or maybe he would preside over the worst jobs record since Hoover. Or maybe your worried that while our economy is going south we'll be pouring more and more funds into the pockets of defense contractors for unncessary programs such as an unproven space weapons program instead of building human capital through better schools and retraining programs. Or maybe your concern is that Kerry will outdo Regan, Bush I, and Bush II in the expansion of the federal government, particularly the military, while cutting non-essential services such as environmental and social services. Quote
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